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The Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach, Oahu

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, located on Waikiki Beach, is a landmark in Hawaii.
The property is known as the "Pink Palace of the Pacific" or the "Pink Lady" She is a
majestic property with lots of charm and history.

The Royal Hawaiian is part of the Starwood family and is run as a
Sheraton property. For a romantic vacation, family vacation, or a Hawaii
honeymoon it is one of our favourite vacation ideas!

Everything follows the theme of Pink - even the bed sheets and towels
are pink!

It is a majestic historic hotel that we loved when we visited in July 2007.

NOTE**** The Royal Hawaiian has recently undergone a $110
million
renovation and has will become a member of the Starwood Hotels and Resorts' elite
Luxury Collection Properties.

History of the Pink Palace - The Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The Pink Palace was one of the first hotels in Waikiki and opened it's
doors, with a black tie affair, on February 1, 1927.

It was opened by Matson Navigation Company, s steam ship travel company. They
wanted to lure the wealthiest families to Hawaii. It cost $4 million USD
and took a year and a half to build. It is pink due to the popular
American obsession of the era of the color pink.

Since then it has held court to President Franklin D. Roosevelt as his
residence and the "Western White House" during WWII and houses the bar
that invented the drink - the Shirley Temple.

During WWII it housed the US troops when they were on R&R and was
closed to tourists. Its hard to imagine today the barbed wired planted in the
sand on the beach to protect the troops!

Beaches and Pools at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The property has a private section of the beach, with pink umbrellas
and beach chairs. The area is roped off with a chain to show guests and beachcombers where the boundaries are. The location on the beach is
quite central.
You can go to Duke's next door easily, or wander down to the
Moana
Surfrider.

If you prefer the pool, they have a small beach side pool with chairs and
cabana's to rent. and again everything is PINK! The pool is 3 ft. deep at
the shallow end and food and beverage service is available.

This video shows you the beach and pool before the
renovations at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel from a
Tower Room Balcony.

Rooms, Restaurants and Bars

There are 2 sections to the hotel, the original section and the newer
(it comparison to the original hotel) beach tower. The rooms in the tower all have
an ocean view and balconies. The older section has more charm,
larger rooms, but fewer
ocean views. You have many choices of rooms and suites.

Original Building's Handcrafted Doors

The restaurants at the Royal Hawaiian include: The Surf Room for fine dining
the Royal Hawaiian Beach Club cafe, the "legendary oceanfront luau" and the
world famous Mai Tai Bar.

When you stay at the on this property, you are centrally located in
Waikiki on Kalakaua Avenue. There are many different type of restaurants
and bars within
walking distance. Including the Cheesecake Factory and Duke's (famous Hawaiian
restaurant).

Our Experience at the Hotel

We chose the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach because it's history, and to
be honest we could use our Sheraton Points. We used the Cash and Points
options with Starwood and paid very little for our room.

We stayed for 3 nights before our Pride of Hawaii cruise. We loved this
hotel for it's charm and location.

When we checked in we asked to be upgraded to a balcony room. They
couldn't accommodate us for the first night so we had a suite in the original
building. We then moved to an ocean view balcony room in the tower. I was
happy to have had both rooms as it gave us a taste of both types of
accommodation.

My first impression of the Pink Palace was one of awe. We were
greeted at the valet parking with Lei's and an escort to the front desk.
I felt like I was in a movie! The charm was incredible!

The room in the original building was charming and older, but didn't
feel old or run down. Our room in the Tower felt very 60's ish, as we found a
lot of Hawaii felt. You could access the beach and pool much easier and
faster from the Tower.

We didn't eat in the restaurants, but used the mini fridge to store
milk, fruit and cereal for breakfast. We ate out of the hotel for lunch and
dinner. (We love the Cheesecake Factory which is a 5 minute walk from the lobby
of the hotel.)

We did however, rent a cabana for half a day by the pool. It was great
fun and came with playing cards, and a fruit tray. We love to splurge on
cabana's every so often, especially as we aren't big sun worshippers.

Overall we would stay here again! - once the construction is complete
however - I would not recommend it unless the hotel was finished.

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